Nancy Taffe of Morris competed for the District 12A Republican endorsement, but was defeated by Jeff Backer of Browns Valley. During her speech, Taffe invited her campaign supporters to join her in front of the delegates at the endorsing convention in Elbow Lake. 2 / 2

Backer earned the endorsement on the first ballot, picking up just over 60 percent of the total votes at the district convention in Elbow Lake last Saturday to win the endorsement over small business owner Nancy Taffe of Morris.

Backer is currently serving his second term as a member of the Browns Valley School Board and is the former mayor of Browns Valley. He also serves as a volunteer EMT for the Browns Valley Ambulance Service. Backer and his twin brother, Jay, own a small business in Browns Valley.

This is the second time Backer has run for the GOP endorsement in District 12A. In 2012 Scott Dutcher of Brandon beat Backer for the endorsement. Dutcher went on to campaign against McNamar, losing the 2012 race by 255 votes.

House District 12A includes seven counties: all of Stevens, Traverse Grant, Wilkin and Big Stone counties and the western half of Pope and Douglas counties.

Kim Ukura began working at the Farmington/Rosemount Independent Town Pages in August of 2016. Previously, she served as the editor of the Morris Sun Tribune for five years. She graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris in 2008 with degrees in English and journalism. She earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2010. Prior to returning to Morris to work at the Sun Tribune, she worked in trade publishing. She has been recognized by the Minnesota Newspaper Association for human interest, multimedia, business and public affairs reporting.